TED Conference in Honolulu

Local Genius: A national lecture series gets a Hawaii-specific version this month.

By Anna Harmon

Published: 2011.11.07 08:00 AM

Photos: Courtesy TED Honolulu

Since 1990, the nonprofit TED has kept its mission simple: “Ideas worth spreading.” After inviting such figures as Amy Tan and Stephen Hawking to speak at its annual conferences, TED (technology, entertainment and design) makes videos of the talks available for free online. More than 1,000 talks are now online, and, whatever the subject, are seldom less than riveting.

This month, Hawaii gets its own version of TED, called TEDx, featuring notable local figures such as filmmaker Edgy Lee and cancer researcher Ho Ng. George Carroll, the curator of the Honolulu event, says, “The whole purpose of TEDx is that people local to the community can showcase to the world their best and brightest.”

Forget about attending the actual event—it’s taking place on Nov. 1, with an audience limited to 100 screened members. But videos of each of the Honolulu talks will be available at tedxhonolulu.org by the end of the month. We spoke with a few of the Hawaii presenters to get previews of their presentations.

Kealoha

Claim to fame: A slam poet who’s been named a national slam legend, and possesses a B.S. in applied nuclear physics from MIT.

Relevant experience: Founded Hawaii Slam and Youth Speaks Hawaii, and has performed at an NFL Pro Bowl halftime, at Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s inauguration and on HBO’s Brave New Voices.

“Let’s not be ashamed that we are geeks; let’s be proud of that. And let’s craft our messages in a way that speaks to the general public.”